Kuala Besut, Malaysia »
August 25, 2010
Walking around Kuala Besut I noticed something very peculiar - birds coming in and out of houses. Hundreds of them. It actually looked like
people made square holes in the walls of their houses for the birds. Weird, I taught, but who knows - maybe they just love these birds so much. People in other countries keep
pigeons. Later, talking to some people, it turns out that they actually do really love them, but
for a bit different reason than just being bird lovers. These are swiftlets, the same which I saw in Niah Caves in Borneo. They produce birds nests, those very popular and
expensive in China. So in Malaysia they figured out - hey, why not to make some 'bird hotels' (that's how they call them), and make some money. And it's
really money falling from the sky. You build a house, or convert the top of your house to a cave, install some shelving for the birds to rest, speakers, hook them up
to a tape with bird sounds and wait a year until the birds come and settle. Then - voila! Collect the clean once a year, collect the nests, enjoy the free money for years to come.
And it's good money. About 150 nests per kilogram and 4000 - 5000 Ringgit a kilo. People told me that you can make 80,000 Ringgit a year. That's about 25,000 dollars. Not bad.
You do nothing, just watch the money fall from the sky. I people say they don't. At least those who want to enslave you to work for them.

Photo:
Kuala Besut, Malaysia. The bird hotels. The two house on the left have their two top floors made to be just for birds. The small cube on the top of the house
on the right - that's also for birds.

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Kuala Besut, Malaysia. Another 'bird hotel'. The orange part of the house is just for birds.

Photo:
Kuala Besut, Malaysia. Both houses, ont the left and right, have additions built on top of their roofs to accommodate the birds.

Photo:
Kuala Besut, Malaysia. This is just a street in Kuala Besut. When you arrive by bus, the agencies where you buy the boat to the Perhentian Islands tickes are there.

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Kuala Besut, Malaysia. Just one of the streets.

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Kuala Besut, Malaysia. The fishing boats. The color, the contrasts and detail thses boats have is incredible. It is hard to show it in such small size pictures, but this
gives an idea.

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Kuala Besut, Malaysia.

Photo:
Kuala Besut, Malaysia.

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Kuala Besut, Malaysia.

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Kuala Besut, Malaysia.

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Kuala Besut, Malaysia. The boats seen from the bridge.

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Kuala Besut, Malaysia. I crossed the bridge and afFter walking through a patch of trees I got to another stretch of a beach. This one seems to be cleaner, very long and
there were absolutely no people around.

Photo:
Kuala Besut, Malaysia. Approaching the beach.

Back in Kuala Besut, sitting at the same place where I always stay for a fantastic omelette in the morning and chat with Zu, a super friendly
girl from Myanmar (Burma) who runs the place. We noticed a couple of lost kittens wandering around. There is nothing you can do, unfortunately, as people don't take care of them.
There are many stray cats in Malaysia, but no dogs. There were dogs in Latin America but not many cats. Quite interesting and I wonder why. So, when a stray cat has kittens, they are on
their own most of the time. Law of the jungle. Urban jungle.

Photo:
Kuala Besut, Malaysia. 'Where are we? What are we going to do?'

Photo:
Kuala Besut, Malaysia. I picked them up from the street and put them up in a safe place. Hope they will make it.

My life has always been about freedom and I shall continue to walk this path.Safe travels ! ........... Stan